Lavar
Johnson has been cut from the
UFC in the wake of a failed drug test in California.

Sherdog.com verified the heavyweight’s release with UFC executive
Marc Ratner on Thursday. Johnson’s post-fight drug test was flagged
for an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio following his
unanimous decision defeat to Brendan
Schaub at UFC
157 last month. MMAJunkie.com first reported Johnson’s test
results and his UFC release.

The fighter’s sample also failed a carbon isotope test, which was
conducted at the WADA lab at UCLA, according to Andy Foster,
executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, who
also verified that Johnson will likely be suspended for nine
months. Foster has not yet made that ruling official, however.

Johnson had no answer for Schaub’s continual takedown attack in
their UFC 157 clash, which took place Feb. 23 at the Honda Center
in Anaheim, Calif. “Big” found himself on his back for much of the
bout’s 15-minute duration, which resulted in the Californian
suffering his second straight defeat.

The 35-year-old exits the UFC with a 2-2 promotional record
following a 3-2 run in Strikeforce. Johnson put forth a pair of
impressive performances in his first two Octagon efforts, knocking
out Joey
Beltran and Pat Barry to
kick off 2012 before stumbling in a submission defeat to Stefan
Struve at UFC 146.